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He was one of the greatest Hollywood stars of all time – but now he is set to star in an explosive movie that will blow his own legendary image apart.

From the brooding heartthrob of post-war classics like On The Waterfront, The Wild One and A Streetcar Named Desire, to the sinister mafia boss in The Godfather, Marlon Brando held cinema audiences spellbound across generations.

This week, 11 years after his death, the Oscar winner will be back on screens again – only this time portraying himself in an autobiography from beyond the grave.

The notoriously publicity shy screen idol – widely revered as the greatest actor of all time – spent months before his death putting together 200 hours of audio tape recordings... not heard until now.

In Listen To Me Marlon, he reveals a withering hatred of the glittering town that made his name and how he loathed the success that made him millions.

Hunk: Big break in A Streetcar Named Desire (Photo: Getty)

Wild One: With Mary Murphy in famous film (Photo: Everett Collection/REX (782297a))

Triumph: On motorcycle in 1953 movie (Photo: Getty)

He also dismisses the acting talent that saw him win two Oscars as “lying for a living” and says he made no great movies.

Brando also opens up about his notorious sex drive that saw him father 16 children from three marriages and countless affairs, admitting he was a "beast" who "had women coming in the door, going out the window".

The star, who died in 2004 aged 80, tells how the celebrity that came with his job sickened him.

Brute: Leathered up in same film (Photo: Alamy)

He tells his audience in the UK-made documentary : “Most actors want their name in the paper. They like all that attention. Very often I am struck with the illusion of success.

“It’s difficult when you meet people because you see they’ve prejudged you – not to be treated normally. To have people staring at you, like an animal in the zoo, what it does is remove you from reality.

“I can’t stand it. I hate it. You guys have no idea how discomforting it is not being able to be just an ordinary person. You can’t imagine how much of a panic it is.

Pin-up: In 1952 after shooting to stardom

“And it’s been a struggle to try to preserve sanity and a sense of reality taken away from you by success.”

Getting into his stride, Brando rants: “I didn’t make any great movies. There’s no such thing as a great movie.

"There are no artists. We are businessmen. We’re merchants. There is no art. It’s all bull***t. Money, money, money. If you think it’s about something else, you’re gonna be bruised.”

The Men: In preparation for his role in 'The Men' (1950) (Photo: Corbis)

The film charts his rise from a penniless actor in New York to superstardom in the 1950s before turning his back on fame.

Brando revived his career in the 1970s, earning $14m for a cameo role in Superman that made him the highest paid actor in history at that time.

But he tells the audience his whole career was down to being a good liar.

Beast: He confesses to huge appetite for women (Photo: Alamy)

He says: “Lying for a living, that’s what acting is. All I’ve done is learned how to be aware of the process. All of you are actors. And good actors because you’re all liars.

"When you’re saying something you don’t mean, that’s acting. You lie for peace. You lie for love. Some people get paid for that.

"If I hadn’t had the good luck to be an actor, I would probably have been a conman. A good conman.”

But although he may have had a love-hate relationship with fame, he used it to fulfil his own huge sexual appetite.

He says his breakthrough in A Streetcar Named Desire meant “suddenly there’s a lot more girls saying “Hi, Mar”.

Born star: As a boy

Brando adds: “When I was younger I was a fairly attractive kid. I had a lot of derring-do and panache. I was unpredictable and stimulating for a lot of girls.

“I was young and destined to spread my seed far and wide. Girls and fun and good food. It can’t get better than this.

“Past a certain point, the penis has its own agenda. It has nothing to do with you. And a lot of your decisions are made by your penis and not by your brain.

“She (his first wife Anna) found out about other women in my life. I had women coming in the door, going out the window.

"And the beast aspect of my personality held sway and overtook anything that was reasonable, rational, moral or decent.”

Yet there was undoubtedly a caring side to the larger-than-life star. His most infamous Hollywood snub came in 1973 when he refused to accept his second Best Actor Oscar for The Godfather – because of the treatment of Native American Indians in movies.

Oscar 2: For role as Don Vito Corleone in The Godfather

Instead he sent actress Sacheen Littlefeather on stage in Apache dress to waive away the gold statue.

He was an environmentalist long before it was fashionable. He bought tiny island Tetiaroa, an atoll north of Tahiti, in the 1960s to protect it.

That came after he fell for Mutiny On The Bounty co-star Tarita Teri’ipaia who became his third wife, after two short marriages to Indian actress Anna Kashfi in 1957 and Movita Castaneda in 1960.

Rage: Brando blasts Hollywood and his fame (Photo: Corbis)

Brando’s determination to make movies with a message also spilled over into his work outside cinema.